This is Fiji!

Nadi, FIJI.

I sat in the early morning sun, escaping the tropical 30+ degree temperature as best I could by dangling my feet into the cool swimming pool. The only sound around me was the ‘eh-eh-eh’ of little gheckos, scurrying up and down the palm trees. So calm. No urgency; no agenda; I drank my english breakfast tea and smiled. How ordinary an activity, the somewhat ritualistic ‘morning tea,’ and yet how much further from home the familiarity of this made me feel. Something measurable, comparable – what I usually drink indoors, at the breakfast table or snuggled up in bed, I’m now drinking here in the tropics. So far from home, yet still with the same taste in my mouth.

And this is how I view travelling. We pack our bags, arrange our transport, and go to new places seeking new experiences within the familiar. We experience we compare, and we evaluate. And in doing so we open our horizons, our minds and, eventually, our ideas...

I put down the cup of tea, half finished, and went in search of fresh coconut milk instead. After all, I was in the tropics...

*

06/05/2010, Nadi, FIJI.

Bula!

Karlos and I have begun our adventure with 6 days in Fiji. And what a good decision that was! After months of working hard, nothing could have been more perfect than a relaxing, tropical location to set our adventure off on the right foot. And our time in Fiji has been just that. Relaxing. Sooooo relaxing. And hot. Don’t forget hot! Sweltering actually.

From the moment we got off the aeroplane we were surrounded by a blanket of 30+ degree heat and humidity of >80%. Sheesh! Hot hot hot! And with temperatures so high you literally have no choice but to relax – you are too hot and slow to do anything more than that! As someone who is usually fairly high energy, I do find it difficult to relax at times – so it has been a blessing in disguise for me, the heat.

Fijians are open, friendly and (of course) relaxed. They know all about “Fiji time,” as it’s them who remind us of it constantly:

(To the minivan driver):
“Sorry; my boyfriend is still collecting his things, he won’t be a minute.”
“Ah, no worry! Fiji time!”
“Sweet...”

It didn’t take long for Karlos to be well known by the locals. I guess he does stand out with his bald head and crazy facial hair! But they are most likely drawn to his uniquely vivacious and chilled-out personality. I’ve been happy to be his shadow for the most part; his sidekick. All in a bid to support my new relaxation movement I suppose – and achived this I have ;)

The first night we arrived in Fiji, we got to our hostel at ‘happy hour’ (roughly 6pm) and were delighted to discover that “happy hour” is actually all day, every day! That, and the fact that the beers were just FJD$2.50, made us very happy indeed!

Our first night was spent drinking; smiling a lot at each other (as we were so happy to have had such a cruisy journey out here and, fundamentally, to actually be here at long last); and finding our bearings. Our sister hostel (next door, and whose facilituies we are entitled to use) was literally on the beach, with stereotypical hammocks and palm tress and colourful cocktails on order at the bar. We were happy.

Our hostel had a ‘kava’ ceremony happening that first night, which we didn’t need to be asked twice to join in on, and in the process met lots of really cool fellow travellers and had an authentic Fiji experience – which is what I’m all about getting. The local Fijians prepared the kava (made from pepper root) in a large wooden bowl, and we all sat in front of them to form a circle. After a series of blessings, you are handed a small bowl of kava, which you drink and pass back empty, then you clap three times. This I presume means you are ‘welcome’ to the group. Kava tastes like nothing more than muddy water, and looks the same. I had no problem drinking it though, as it doesn’t taste bad as such – and I was mostly curious to know what might happen to me after drinking it. After 3 ‘high tide’ bowlfuls I can safely report back – nothing.

We really had a lot of fun together this first evening in Fiji. Some people began playing acoustic guitar which had everyone else singing along. I will always remember the Fijians singing ‘beat boys’ beautifully. The Fijians really love to sing and have a good time. As do we! We went to bed together really happy that first night.

Days 2, 3, 4 and 5 were alternated with scootering around and exploring the island, and relaxing by the pool. One of the best things that we did was visit some naturally heated mud pools. This basically involved stripping off and getting into a warm and murky outdoor pool. I was grateful that our local Fijian told me before getting in that all there is in the bottom is mud and dead leaves from the overhanging tree... I would otherwise have spent the entire time in there wondering what critters might find me tasty!

It was a really awesome, but strange experience... once you had climbed down a little bamboo ladder and into the mud pool, you quickly realised that you couldn’t actually stand on the bottom. The bottom of the pool consisted of warm sloppy mud (and leaves) that came right up to our waists, and probably even higher than that; we had to keep treading in the mud so not to sink! I think I spent the whole time giggling! We were told to get our skin wet and then to cover ourselves in the mud – from our toes to the top of our heads! Getting out of the pool washed a lot off however, so when we got out we were told to pick up globs of mud from the ground and rub this over ourselves. So much fun!

After turning ourselves into mud monsters we had some pics taken, and then stood in the sunshine for a while to let the mud to dry. After that we then had to get back into the mud pool to wash off the most part, and were then escorted to a naturally heated spa pool. Wheeeeeooooo, was this hot! We had to lower ourselves in bit by bit as it was like a red hot bath... toes first... ok, now the lower legs... this is ok. Bums?... ooooh faaarrrrrk this is hot.... ok ok oooh ok bit lower.... stomachs in.... aaaaah, not too bad at all!

We had a wee swim in the spa and after a few minutes just had to get out, or I think we would have passed out with the heat. Cool showers and 10 minutes later, the feel of the cool breeze on our newly smooth skin, as we raced by through Nadi on our scooter – was bliss.

Our evenings in Fiji were spent chilling out in the hostel bars. Beautiful sunsets, warm evenings, and lots of cool people to chat with – it was awesome. On evenings 2 and 5 we enjoyed watching Fijian fire dancers, sword dancers, and hula girls perform for us, bringing us from our seats in the pool bar right down onto the beach. Even though I was almost eaten alive by mosquitoes during the beach fire dancing performances, it was worth it. Those guys were really talented.

Another thing I will always remember about our time in Fiji, is all of the cute, cute, cute little critters! We constantly saw little frogs, lizards/geckos, mice, birds – and they were all so little, and so cute! Giant cockroach in our room however – not so cute. Although... it was funny watching Karlos whip it with is t-shirt until it scurried out the door!

At the end of our Fijia adventure I wrote a list of things I will never forget:

The heat rainbow over the aeroplane white knuckle minibus ride to our hostel with no seatbelt sunset $2.50 beers smiling with Karlos hammocks on the sand kava frogs lizards fish soup love scooter riding watermelons on the side of the road vegetable curry Bula! Bump roads on the scooter kissing Karlos as we rode large helmets that kept slipping sugar city sun loungers little mouse fire and sword dancers hula girls pina colada at sunset Karlos dancing lazy days by the pool hot skin cool water drying in seconds beach walk cool pool swimming yummy soup tiny bread rolls frogs very small scooter curry for breakfast orchid garden mud pools kavi in Nadi markets pineapple cheeseburger too much beer reading in the shade greek salad cute miner birds tropical rain fire dancers on the sand Karlos ripped his pants chilled evenings breakfast tea with feet in pool sunshine and damp skin coconut milk pineapple Karlos reading mosquitoe bites friends we made

And so, our last day in Fiji, due to a 10pm flight, was spent enjoying fresh coconut milk and Fijian pineapple by the pool. Not too shabby.

I enjoyed my time in Fiji, but by the end I became quite excited to get to the USA. We have 2 whole months to travel the entire US and the excitement hit me suddenly like a coconut falling from a tree. We’re going to America, baby! California, Texas, Tennessee, Montana, New York! Places I have heard so much about, for so long... and the time has now come for me to explore them.

Vinnaka, Fiji.

Here we come, USA!

~ Comet xo